2020 a Year of Personal Highlights for Jesse
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Colten Jesse is no stranger to having thousands of strangers and fans all over the United States cheer for him when he makes an 8-second bull ride.
The No. 10-ranked bull rider in the world, though, is the one tipping his hat and doing the cheering for those that he considers the real heroes of the world today.
All over the globe, doctors and nurses are answering the call to try to save as many lives as possible as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak continues to spread.
Jesse is proud of all of those stepping up during the world pandemic, but he is, of course, especially proud of his fiancée, Deven Riggins.
Riggins is a registered nurse and works in an emergency room in Fort Worth, Texas, and Jesse reiterated his appreciation for all she does during a recent Skype interview.
Her efforts, and those by the medical community, have not gone unnoticed by Jesse.
“I’m extremely proud of her in every aspect, even before all this happened,” Jesse said. “She loves her job, she loves what she does. Especially right now, it’s kind of crazy, but just how strong she is and how much she puts up with, not only from people at the hospital but from me as well, and she still loves me.
“I’m extremely proud of her.”
Jesse proposed to Riggins last month during the 2020 WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy, and it was one of a series of highlights this year for Jesse in and out of the arena.
The 22-year-old was off to the best start of his career before the PBR had to postpone/cancel a series of events because of the coronavirus.
With the Unleash The Beast on hiatus, Jesse has posted a series of videos showcasing his musical talents to give fans a small escape.
Jesse used to be shy about posting his videos publicly.
“It was a confidence thing, and after I met my now fiancée, I think I had wrote maybe one or two songs, or tried to. And after I met her, I don’t want to say I really got into writing songs, but I have wrote a handful now,” Jesse said. “I mean, I have nobody else to thank except for her. And she’ll listen to them, and I don’t know if she’s given her honest opinion, but she always tells me how great they are. I enjoy sharing a little bit now. I feel like each song is a story. The one’s that I’ve wrote, anyway. But I enjoy sharing that talent.”
Jesse said three days after he proposed that he sat down at his house to write a song for the wedding, which he is excited to share with everyone in the future.
For the time being, Jesse has been trying his best to maintain a sense of normalcy at home amidst the changing world, but he admits things are obviously not the same.
“It’s been a little bit different,” Jesse said. “Not having an event, I kind of took last week and kind of relaxed a little bit, let my body rest. It’s kind of different, but not really. Heck, I’m here every day, hanging out with the dogs and running errands in town. I think that’s the only thing that’s really changed (for me). I’m typically out and about doing stuff every day, and trying to get something done, running errands. We’re being advised now not to be running any errands and stay at home.
“But we’ve got a gym here at the house, so that kind of plays into my favor. I don’t have to worry about that. I still get to work out, so it’s nice.”
Jesse is 11-for-30 (36.67%) with four Top-10 finishes this season after missing six months last season recovering from reconstructive right shoulder surgery.
Jesse won his first career 15/15 Bucking Battle with 89.5 points on Lil 2 Train last month in St. Louis, Missouri.
The third-year pro is 380.5 points behind world leader Jose Vitor Leme.
Jesse is well on his way to shattering his previous career-high of 15 qualified rides from last year should best his No. 22 finish in the 2018 world standings.
Jesse is doing his best to stay in shape so that whenever the time comes, he will be ready to hop into his truck and head to a PBR event.
“I can’t wait for it,” Jesse said. “Last week, like I said, I kind of took that time to relax just for a couple days, but I don’t feel like myself not having anywhere to go. Thankful for the PBR, as good as they are to us. If you do your job well, you win quite a bit of money, and I’m thankful for that because I have a little bit of cushion. I’m not really stressing about much right now. But yeah, I’m just ready to get back out there and get back to work.”
Jesse added that anytime you have to sit on the sidelines, like he had to at the end of last season, only creates more anticipation and excitement to get back to work.
“When you’re just sitting around, and you’re not able to go, for me anyway, I just sit there and crave it and crave it, and when the time comes, it’s like letting a racehorse out of the gates,” Jesse said. “It’s full blast. So I look forward to it coming back, and everybody coming back, but myself especially.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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